Cool and connected haven for executives
Dubai hotel offers artistic flair and high-speed internet rather than the rathet staid offering that is typically found. David Dunn checks in
Nowhere does it say business hotels need to be clinical, clunky and purely practical places designed solely for refuelling and rest.
While dusitD2 kenz hotel Dubai does not tout itself as an all-out destination for business people, it keenly targets visiting executives – and offers more than bed and breakfast.
The sleek recent addition to the Barsha Heights – still popularly known by most as Tecom – skyline has the usual comforts and more than you would expect of a four-star Dubai property. In fact, it admits its rates are often higher than a couple of its (fivestar) neighbours.
Central to the look of this fresh brand on the block, from Thai group Dusit Thani, is artistic flair that informs everywhere from the lobby to the 237 rooms, including 15 executive floor rooms and suites.
The young Emirati artist Zeinab Al Hashemi worked with hotel designers to form a curated art programme throughout, tailored to the development.
“We actually have more pieces of art in the hotel than rooms,” says the hotel’s innovation adviser and creative director Alya Al Noaimi.
“Every element has been designed to provide a warmth and familiarity for our guests, from the creation of bespoke scents, specially composed music and the use and contrast of different textures.”
Certainly while the average business type may be too busy or tired to immediately note these touches, it makes for a calm and cool feel in a building given to convenience.
The dusitD2 kenz is a short walk from Internet City station on Dubai Metro, which also gives footbridge access to offices on the opposite side of Sheikh Zayed Road as well as easy transport links to Dubai World Trade Centre and Jebel Ali Free Zone.
In the grand opening week earlier this year, the property was nudging capacity with visitors attending conferences and commercial shows at the former. They would have felt the anti-bustle vibe of the hotel, from the lobby to the rooftop pool and the modestly sized executive lounge.
The fitness suite has great (distracting) views across the southern end of Dubai and towards Media City and guest rooms are distinctive, both in terms of decor, artefacts and furniture, creating a boutique feel that is not common in Dubai’s hotel stock.
With that in mind, rooms do not forsake substance with style. Certainly the finish of even the entry-level room choices is of a quality that edges most four-star properties, and it is lifted by eye-catching touches that make it stand out.
A standard room typically offers a decent-sized bed-facing TV, a hairdryer, ironing board and a small safe for cash and travel documents.
Book an executive floor room you get two pieces of laundry pressed daily, an airport transfer/pick-up, premium internet as standard and access to the 16th floor lounge; it serves complimentary drinks and food all day.
The general manager Bruno Guilloux cites the hotel’s occupancy as 65 per cent corporate against 35 per cent leisure, notably from the GCC.
The Frenchman is a big fan of the meeting rooms – cannily named D’brief, D’bate, D’cide and D’fine. Each features “our famous gadget”, which he says is unique to the property, namely a Specktron touchscreen TV; 70-inch in all but one setting (55-inch in the boardroom) that acts like a white board. It is connected to the internet and presentation assets via Bluetooth, USB, HDMI and so on, meaning foreign-based executives or other key staff can be brought into any meetings and presentations live from distance.
“If you are in another part of the world, another office, we give you a code, you have a meeting here, your head office is in another country, you can have your presentation on this screen,” says Mr Guilloux.
The technology, and significant internet speed, is putting dusitD2 kenz on the meetings map. The building boasts 300 mbps and bandwidth allocation is flexible – typically a guest can connect 10 devices in their room.
“We thought about the product, our market … we are targeting millennials – they like fast internet, easy-going facilities. The first thing people ask when they enter your hotel is ‘what is your Wi-Fi code?’
“We believe connectivity is the deal-breaker, especially in terms of meeting facilities.
“We believe that increasingly travellers are looking for an authentic, tailored experience, whether it’s for business or pleasure,” adds Mr Guilloux.